{{short description|Canadian curator (born 1954)}} {{Use dmy dates|date= May 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Gary Dufour | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year|1954}} | birth_place = Tisdale, Saskatchewan | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | spouse = spouse of Siné MacPherson (b. 1952) (m. 1976) | education = Fine Art, BFA (Distinction), University of Regina; Fine Art (grad. 1976); MFA, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (grad. 1979); | awards = | known_for = Curator of Contemporary Art, educator }} '''Gary Dufour''' (born 1954) is an art historian based in Australia who has taught at the University of Western Australia. He served as the senior curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery (1988–1995) and as chief curator and deputy director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia (1995–2013). He is an expert on contemporary and modern art and, in 2016, was appointed as an approved valuer for the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
== Career == Dufour was born in Tisdale, Saskatchewan.<ref>{{cite web|title = Gary Dufour|url=https://viaf.org/viaf/search?query=local.names%20all%20%22Gary%20Dufour%2C%201954%20%22&sortKeys=holdingscount&recordSchema=BriefVIAF |website=viaf.org |publisher=VIAF |access-date=14 May 2024}}</ref> He received his BFA in Fine Art from the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, graduating in 1976, and his MFA at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCAD) in Halifax, graduating in 1979.<ref name="RR " >{{cite web |title=Faculty |url=https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/gary-dufour |website=research-repository.uwa.edu.au |publisher=UWA |access-date=14 May 2024}}</ref> In 1976 and 1977, he was the Founding Director of the Saskatchewan Craft Council in Regina.<ref name="RR " /> In 1980, he was a lecturer at NSCAD, and from 1981 to 1983, he was an assistant professor at the University of Regina.<ref name="RR " />
During the early 1980s, he worked as a sculptor. Curator Michael Parke-Taylor did an exhibition of his work titled ''Gary Dufour: Belie/F'' for the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina in 1981<ref>{{cite web |title=Exhibitions |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/racar/1982-v9-n1-2-racar05806/1074981ar.pdf |website=www.erudit.org |publisher=Erudit |access-date=19 May 2024}}</ref> (it was reviewed at length in the Regina newspaper)<ref>Dean Hoffart, "Stacks of tiles are presented as work of art". The Leader-Post, Regina, July 4, 1981.</ref> and he had a show of his constructions at Mercer Union in Toronto in 1982.<ref>{{cite web |title=Exhibitions |publisher=Mercer Union, 1982|url=https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/mercer/128.html |access-date=19 May 2024}}</ref> His artwork is now in the collections of Remai Modern, Saskatoon, and the University of Regina.<ref>{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/version_history/gary-dufour/works |website=www.daao.org.au |publisher=Design and Art Australia Online |access-date=19 May 2024}}</ref>
He moved to Australia in 1983 and became the Curator of Prints & Drawings at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) in Perth.<ref name="RR " /> From 1987 to 1988, he was Chief Curator at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, then from 1988 to 1995, he was Senior Curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery.<ref name="RR " /> While there, one of his major achievements was a Guido Molinari exhibition in 1989 which he curated and for which he wrote the catalogue, titled ''Guido Molinari: 1951-1961, Peintures en noir et blanc/ The Black and White Paintings'' which toured the country.<ref>{{cite web |title=Artists |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/guido-molinari |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca |publisher=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=20 May 2024}}</ref> He also organized an exhibition and wrote the catalogue essay for Gerald Ferguson's ''The Initial Alphabet'' (1994)<ref>{{cite book |title=Gerald Ferguson: The Initial Alphabet |date=1994 |publisher=Vancouver Art Gallery |location=Vancouver|isbn=1895442192|url=https://library.gallery.ca/search~S1?/dferguson%2C+gerald/dferguson+gerald/1%2C9%2C57%2CB/frameset&FF=dferguson+gerald+++++1937+++++2009&8%2C%2C13 |access-date=20 May 2024}}</ref> as well as being the Foundation curator, Vancouver Art Gallery Archive of Lawrence Weiner Posters.<ref name="RR " />
Afterwards, from 1995 to 2013, he served as Chief Curator | Deputy Director at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.<ref name="RR " /> In 1997, he co-curated an exhibition of Allan Sekula for the Vancouver Art Gallery.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sekula |first1=Allan |last2=Dufour|first2=Gary|last3=O'Brian|first3=John|title=Geography lesson: Canadian notes |date=1997 |publisher=Vancouver Art Gallery; MIT Press |location=Vancouver, Canada, Cambridge, Mass.|isbn=0262692007 |oclc=38002414 }}</ref> In 2007, he was the first curator-in-residence ISCP, New York for the Dr. K. David Edwards and Margery Edwards Charitable Trust.<ref>{{cite web |title=Awards |url=https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/prizes/dr-k-david-edwards-and-margery-edwards-charitable-trust-curator-i |website=research-repository.uwa.edu.au |publisher=Dr. K. David Edwards and Margery Edwards Charitable Trust |access-date=19 May 2024}}</ref> From 2013 to 2020, he taught Art History at the University of Western Australia<ref>{{cite web |title=Biography |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/version_history/gary-dufour/personal_details/?revision_no=25 |website=www.daao.org.au |publisher= Design and Art Australia Online (DAAO) |access-date=17 May 2024}}</ref> and from 2013 to 2018, he directed the Cruthers Art Foundation<ref name="RR " /> (the Cruthers Collection of Women's Art (CCWA) is Australia's largest public collection of women's art).<ref name="RR " /> In 2016, he was appointed an approved valuer for the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.<ref name="RR " /> From 2017 to 2018, he was director of the SHEILA A Foundation for Women in Visual Art in Australia and retired as emeritus director.<ref name="RR " />
Dufour has developed extensive contemporary international art collections and commissioned artists such as Christian Boltanski.<ref name="RR " /> His fonds is held at the National Art Archive and Capon Research Library, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney and in the "Papers of Howard Taylor" at the Archives and Research Library, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.<ref name="RR " />
==Writing == Dufour edited the ''State art collection : Art Gallery of Western Australia'' (1997).<ref>{{cite book |title=State art collection : Art Gallery of Western Australia / [editor, Gary Dufour]. |date=1997 |publisher=Art Gallery of Western Australia |location=Perth |isbn=0730936155 |url=https://encore.slwa.wa.gov.au/iii/encore/search/C__SState%20art%20collection%20%3A%20Art%20Gallery%20of%20Western%20Australia%20__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=def|access-date=18 May 2024}}</ref> He has organized and contributed essays to exhibitions on the art of Canadian, Australian, and International modern and contemporary artists such as Howard Taylor (1985, 1998, 2003), Dan Graham (1985), Max Pam (1986), Frank Nulf (1987), Guido Molinari (1989 and often thereafter), Gerald Ferguson (1994), Jochen Gerz (1994), and most famously, Jeff Wall (1990 and 2012),<ref name="RR " /> among others. (Dufour also edited Wall's ''Catalogue Raisonné: 2005-2021'', called a "lavish presentation" by Goodreads).<ref>{{cite web |title=article |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61463048-jeff-wall |website=www.goodreads.com |publisher=Goodreads |access-date=17 May 2024}}</ref> In 2014, he curated the exhibition, wrote the brochure and gave a floor talk for William Kentridge's the ''REfusal of Time'' (2012), a video and sculptural installation at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art.<ref>{{cite web |title=Exhibitions |url=https://pica.org.au/whats-on/william-kentridge |website=pica.org.au |publisher=PICA |access-date=20 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Exhibition |url=https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/william-kentridge-the-refusal-of-time |website=research-repository.uwa.edu.au |publisher=UWA |access-date=20 May 2024}}</ref>
He has written extensively on Guido Molinari for Heffel Fine Art Auction House Contemporary Art catalogues in Canada since 2017<ref>{{cite web |title=Works |url=https://www.heffel.com/Auction/LotDetails_E?Request=iZTDNdl2DfJc8jRi4pFzNF4FyYcqe80krsL77dDV7HAjjYqEzefOqrm9eArZa36LYx8+F8IdajZc57F2WhbNV0igJ0fjzAS6CeZWxbDCovQTf57sBAJDOm29vtcgfSqYR3Z5R5dIxgr4hI4yBLrwnQWrPlDBXYIhmGRHJAWL3Dfv5NfvmKCmhmPFWO+sE7slgDOST8rDpdJ11PgcSjhDK6n7xXlXD47YHXDbSbAISEk= |website=www.heffel.com |publisher=Heffel Auction House |access-date=20 May 2024}}</ref> and most recently on Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland (2024).<ref>{{cite web |title=Exhibitions |url=https://www.heffel.com/Auction/Lots_E?Request=iZTDNdl2DfJc8jRi4pFzNF4FyYcqe80krsL77dDV7HCow9OTQA64f+VG3CAWm7cEchYbhdamiG4QqZBq3+9/h3jCd2/G0rWJmZTIW29ZnNUDIwLR3xhVjKSt7bMZjbN20UrmehZOFtaXQaZ5Byn7VDjAeK2tE5LNb0h6Nv37XOoG1ulXf7wlnV6X5xvZ5t0oD4GsZjmNA/bDIOSckNJAYKSEiykQH/p195KqQhNw2QY= |website=www.heffel.com |publisher=Heffel Auction House |access-date=18 May 2024}}</ref> In 2023 he edited ''Max Pam; Contingency of Eye Contact A Memoir 1970-1975'' published by Editions Bessard, Paris.<ref>{{cite book |title=Books |date=2023 |publisher=Editions Bessard |location=Paris |url=https://editionsbessard.com/product/the-contingency-of-eye-contact-a-memoir-1970-1975/ |access-date=20 May 2024}}</ref> In 2024, his transcription of Howard Taylor's Journal 1946-2001 which traces his material innovation as a painter will be published by the AGWA.<ref name="RR " />
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dufour, Gary}} Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian non-fiction writers Category:Canadian art historians Category:Australian non-fiction writers Category:University of Regina alumni Category:Australian art historians Category:Canadian art curators Category:Writers from Vancouver Category:Australian curators Category:Canadian emigrants to Australia Category:Art museum people Category:Australian educators Category:Canadian sculptors